


Meet Me Halfway

by Illiad_And_Oddity



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: All very well meant though!, Cultural Differences, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Minor Misunderstandings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-30
Updated: 2019-03-30
Packaged: 2019-12-27 00:49:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18293495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Illiad_And_Oddity/pseuds/Illiad_And_Oddity
Summary: One of the problems of courting someone who wasn’t Galra was that Ulaz often found himself crashing inexpertly into cultural barriers.  Shiro never seemed to mind when Ulaz misunderstood human customs, but it still bothered Ulaz.  He cared a great deal for his human lover, and he was determined to do at leastonecourtship ritual the right way.Written for TheKatWarrior for the Shiro Loves Men discord's White Day exchange.





	Meet Me Halfway

**Author's Note:**

> This is my fic for TheKatWarrior on the Shiro Loves Men discord server.
> 
> Uliro is a cute ship that I've always had a soft spot for, but I hadn't written it before this. I hope I did it justice!

One of the problems of courting someone who wasn’t Galra was that Ulaz often found himself crashing inexpertly into cultural barriers. Not only was Shiro not Galra, but he was from a species that wasn’t even spacefaring enough to have escaped their own solar system, so Ulaz knew almost nothing about humans that he hadn’t learned from the Paladins directly.

Shiro never seemed to mind when Ulaz misunderstood human customs, but it still bothered Ulaz that he kept getting things wrong. He cared a great deal for the human, and he was determined to do at least _one_ courtship ritual the right way

To do that, though, he would need some help. Fortunately, at least some of the other Paladins were happy enough to assist him. When he came upon a couple of the younger Paladins gathered in the lounge without Shiro, he took advantage of the opportunity to ask.

“What sort of things are considered proper courtship gifts among humans?” he asked.

“What gifts?” Lance looked confused. Ulaz wondered if perhaps the word hadn’t translated properly.

“Courtship gifts. Gifts given to express romantic feelings,” Ulaz said patiently, “Do humans not have this tradition?”

“Oh, we do!” Hunk said brightly, “Chocolate and flowers are traditional, but it can be pretty much anything as long as it comes from the heart.”

“Flowers?” Ulaz repeated pensively, “What type of flowers?”

“Anything that smells nice!” Lance said brightly, apparently having caught up, “My mom always told my dad she doesn’t see the point of getting flowers if you’re not going to get nice-smelling flowers. Sometimes when my dad and I were at the store, he’d ask me to pick out the nicest-smelling bouquet and he’d bring it home for mom.”

Ulaz nodded. A human’s sense of smell wasn’t as good as a Galra’s, but Shiro had said that he liked the way Ulaz smelled when he was freshly bathed, and hated to leave his sweaty clothing unwashed for more than a few hours because it stunk. It only made sense that nice-smelling gifts would be a part of the culture.

“And what exactly is chocolate?” Ulaz asked.

“It’s a kind of food,” Hunk said, “It’s made from the seeds of the cacao tree on Earth. It’s one of the most popular flavors.”

On Earth. The Paladins were staying well away from their home planet, since the Empire had little to no interest in that sector and they didn’t want to run the risk of drawing attention to it. It was a tactically sound decision, but unfortunately meant he wouldn’t be able to get any chocolate for Shiro. Ulaz slumped in disappointment.

“Are other foods acceptable? You said chocolate is traditional, but I assume it’s not mandatory?”

“Yeah. Chocolate is going to be hard to find out here,” Hunk agreed, “But I think a dessert which blends sweet and bitter flavors should be a lot easier to find. There were these fruits I tried on Olkarion which tasted pretty close to dark chocolate, although it was a little overly sweet. Greetases, I think they were called?”

Ulaz brightened a little, “Oh, yes, I’ve had those before. So… something that tastes like a greetas fruit, but more bitter. I should be able to find those.”

He left the two Paladins behind, feeling cheerful. He had a plan to show his human lover how much he cared, and this time, he knew he would get it right.

~ ~ ~

Shiro hadn’t thought anything of it when they’d stopped at a trading post for supplies and Ulaz had disappeared for a few hours. They’d all gone off in various directions, everyone had something to look for, and so when Ulaz said he needed to go find some things, Shiro just waved him off.

“Go ahead,” he said with a smile, “You don’t need my permission.”

Ulaz’s expression went soft in that way it did whenever Shiro had done or said something he found cute, and he gently ran his thumb along Shiro’s jawline. That was something like the Galra version of a quick kiss on the cheek, at least as far as Shiro was concerned. It had taken them a little bit of time to get used to each other’s ways of expressing affection, but he had grown to like Ulaz’s touches as much as Ulaz had grown to like kisses.

“I will see you back on the ship later,” said Ulaz, with a soft smile that made Shiro blush. Ulaz frequently had that effect on him. The sincerity of his feelings, and the way Ulaz only showed that soft side to him, always made Shiro blush like he was a pre-teen in the throes of his first crush again.

It had been so long since he’d felt that wonderful, fluttery feeling of new love, and he was determined to enjoy it while he could.

When Shiro returned to the ship a few hours later, he headed to his quarters to drop off the few items he had purchased, and found the door open. He looked inside carefully, just in case something was amiss. He’d never been ambushed inside the castle itself, but it wasn’t entirely outside the realm of possibility, and it paid to be cautious if something seemed out of place

No ambush was lying in wait for him inside. There was just Ulaz, standing in the middle of his room with some kind of plant in one hand and a bowl with some purple-ish lumps in the other, and an air of nervous expectation.

“Ulaz?” Shiro asked, unsure of what this was about.

“These are for you!” Ulaz said quickly, holding out the plant and the bowl.

“For me?” Shiro asked. He took a step forward, curious. Was this a Galra thing he hadn’t learned about yet?

“I asked the other Paladins about human courtship gifts. They told me that pleasant-smelling flowers and a bitter-sweet dessert were traditional...” Ulaz trailed off, looking slightly embarrassed, then rallied himself and continued, “It occurs to me that I should have asked if there was a specific ritual to giving them.”

“You – you got me flowers?” asked Shiro, suddenly feeling overwhelmed. It didn’t even matter that the plant in Ulaz’s hand didn’t look like anything Shiro would have called a flower, the fact that Ulaz had done it for him made Shiro feel so happy he thought he could burst.

Ulaz relaxed a little, smiling, “And greetas truffles. Hunk told me that greetas fruits taste similar to chocolate, so I hope these will do. If I ever go to Earth, I will be certain to get you proper chocolate.”

Shiro took a step forward, and carefully took the plant from Ulaz. He leaned forward to smell it. It didn’t have a strong smell at all – a bit like clay, maybe? - but that didn’t matter. He looked up at Ulaz and smiled as he took one of the truffles and popped it into his mouth, in what he hoped would be a flirty way.

To be fair to Ulaz, it _did_ taste similar to chocolate. It just tasted like a grainy lump of unsweetened baking chocolate. Shiro almost spit it out from pure startled reflex, but Ulaz was looking at him so hopefully that he couldn’t _possibly_ disappoint him. He chewed and swallowed, reminding himself that he’d eaten far worse things since he’d come to space. It was worth it to see the way his lover’s face lit up in pleasure when Shiro ate it.

“I take it these are acceptable gifts?” Ulaz asked hopefully.

“You know you don’t need to do things like this for me, right?” Shiro replied, dodging the question, “I’d like you whether or not you got me presents.”

“You’re important to me, and I want to show you how much I care for you. I may not understand all of your human ways of doing things, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try. You aren’t Galra, but you do Galra things for me. It’s only fair I should do human things for you.”

He ran his thumb gently along Shiro’s jaw in his usual affectionate caress, and Shiro wondered, not for the first time, how it had ended up that the most considerate man he’d ever dated was an alien. He turned his head slightly to give the digit a soft kiss, and Ulaz let out a gentle purr. He only ever did that when he was one, very content, and two, alone with Shiro.

“It means a lot to me that you try so hard. That you think I’m worth going to so much effort for.”

“You are.” Ulaz’s response was immediate and utterly sincere. “I want to make you happy, Shiro.”

Shiro stretched upward, rising onto his toes – he had never been the smaller one in a relationship before Ulaz, but he found that he liked it – and Ulaz bent down to kiss him. His lips were dry and slightly rough as always, but his kisses were so tender.

After a few moments, Shiro broke the kiss and smiled up at Ulaz, who rubbed his face again. He always touched Shiro gently, as if Shiro were something infinitely precious that he couldn’t quite believe he had gotten permission to hold. He was an island of calm in the midst of the chaos that Shiro’s life had become, and his sincere concern over doing things ‘right’ for Shiro made him feel like he was… well, just a man in love. Sometimes when he spent time with Ulaz, he could almost forget that he was in the middle of a war.

“You do make me happy,” Shiro said, “You always do.”

**Author's Note:**

> Shiro never does tell Ulaz that the candy was gross. He ate all of it over the course of the next two weeks and told Ulaz that savoring gift food is a tradition, too.


End file.
